In recent years, organic EL devices have drawn attention as self-emitting devices. An organic EL element is an element which has a configuration wherein a light-emitting layer of an organic compound is interposed between electrodes on a substrate, and which emits light when current is supplied between the electrodes. As the light-emitting layer is an organic compound, it is possible to fabricate a flexible organic EL element by using a resin film as the substrate, but as the light-emitting element and the cathode are easily degraded by oxygen and moisture, it is necessary to provide a barrier film on the resin film to block as much as possible the oxygen and moisture that infiltrate via the resin film.
As a member of an organic EL element like the one mentioned above, various studies have been made with respect to a multilayer film which uses a resin film as the substrate, and which has a barrier film, and a transparent conductive film that constitutes one of the electrodes. As a method of forming a barrier film, studies are ongoing with respect to the electron beam method, sputtering method, plasma CVD method, ion plating method and so on; as a method of forming a transparent conductive film, studies are ongoing with respect to physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods such as sputtering and ion plating (see, e.g., JP-A-2008-235165 (paragraph 0002, paragraph 0050)). However, with respect to the aforementioned conventional multilayer film, there is a problem that barrier properties and electrical conductivity tend to decline when bending occurs. Otherwise, it should be noted that CVD is the abbreviation for “chemical vapor deposition.”